Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Rachel Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazen
is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library.
Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors'
heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Rachel Fuller Brown, a biochemist, and Elizabeth Lee Hazen, a microbiologist, were
co-discoverers in 1950 of the drug nystatin, the first antibiotic administered to
humans that safely and effectively treats serious fungal diseases. Both were employed
by the Division of Laboratories and Research of the New York State Department of Health,
Brown in Albany and Hazen in New York City.

Brown and Hazen assigned patent royalties to the Research Corporation of New York,
a non-profit foundation for the advancement of science, to assure that all income
from their invention would be used in the public interest. The patent had produced
over $13 million in royalties when it expired in 1978. One-half the proceeds were
designated for the general purposes of the Research Corporation, and one-half for
the Brown-Hazen Fund.

From 1957 to 1978 the Brown-Hazen Fund supported research and other programs in the
biomedical sciences, especially in microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, and mycology;
beginning in 1973, grants were restricted to work in mycology. The Fund made grants
for fundamental investigations in the biomedical sciences, the strengthening of science
programs of educational institutions, travel grants to attend medical conferences
abroad, training programs, the preparation of scientific papers or articles for publication,
and sponsorship of science symposiums.

This preliminary inventory provides a general overview of the contents of each series.
It is a guide to papers that have received only minimal sorting and arrangement and
is not intended to be as thorough or as specific as a final inventory. Folder headings,
except those in square brackets, are those supplied by Research Corporation.

Series I. Rachel Fuller Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazen. This series includes biographical
information; tributes, appreciations, speeches, and letters by colleagues and friends;
speeches by Brown and Hazen; conference programs, press releases, resumes, obituaries,
published articles, bibliographies, and personal correspondence, all detailing Brown
and Hazen's research, accomplishments, their partnership, and the accomplishments
of the Brown-Hazen Fund.

Series II. Brown-Hazen Fund. The business correspondence of the Brown-Hazen Fund,
1957-1978, consists mainly of proposal letters, correspondence about applications,
and letters of acceptance or rejection. There are also correspondence about the Fund's
administrative procedures and finances, annual reports, and clippings. Personal correspondence
between Brown and Hazen is occasionally included with their business correspondence.

The papers of Rachel Fuller Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazen were used by Richard S.
Baldwin, author of the book The Fungus Fighters: Two Women Scientists and Their Discovery, published by Cornell University Press in 1981. The interviews on the cassette tapes
were conducted by Baldwin in the process of his research.